


May Angels Lead You In

by Moreanswers24



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Death, Episode: s07e16 Election Day Part I AU, Episode: s07e17 Election Day Part II AU, Gen, Season 7 AU, really angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 20:07:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15893205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moreanswers24/pseuds/Moreanswers24
Summary: He tried the door and luckily it opened. He walked in and as he did, he chuckled. It was a classic Joshua Lyman room from the onset. Piles of work everywhere and to-go cartons of food. “Josh! The polls are looking better! You don’t have to be making calls right now.”There was no response and it was then he saw the light underneath the bathroom door. He calmed a bit, but then noticed that the bathroom door was ajar. He walked towards the bathroom and frowned, “Josh? Everything okay in there?”He grew worried. This wasn’t like Josh. Even when he was in one of his funks, he was still talkative. He walked even closer to the door, “Josh,” he whispered.He pushed the bathroom door open and his eyes widened in fear and panic, “JOSH!”An Election Day Part I/Part II AU where Leo does not die.





	May Angels Lead You In

**Author's Note:**

> I was in an angsty sort of mood this weekend and unfortunately for all of you lovely readers, I listened to a very emotional song that gave me a story idea. Hope you enjoy it.

“Leo!”

Leo Thomas McGarry, nominee for Vice-President of the United States, knew he was in trouble when Annabeth Schott came in and shouted his name. He was laying on the ground, trying to reach the watch that had somehow rolled under the bed. He didn’t respond, wanting to get his watch before the eventual lecture that he would be getting after this. However, this didn’t get to  happen as he was suddenly flipped over onto his back and straight into the gaze of one very worried Annabeth Schott. He smiled the same ashamed smile that he always gave when someone caught him doing something he shouldn’t be doing and looked at Annabeth, only giving a “What’s up” as a response.

It was clear that Annabeth was not amused as she helped pull him up, sat him on the bed, and slapped him on the shoulder.

“Ow. What the hell was that for?”

“That’s what you get for scaring the life out of me.”

“Scaring the life out of you? I was on the floor getting my watch!”

“Well, you didn’t answer the door when I knocked or called, you were laying on the ground, and it looked like you weren’t moving.”

“I told you, I was busy getting my watch.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes and looked at him. “You sure you’re okay?”

Leo groaned in exasperation. “I’m fine. My pride at being able to get a watch is a little shot, but besides that I’m fine, mother.”

Annabeth slapped him on the shoulder again.

“Maybe I should lie on the floor again. That way I won’t be abused like this.”

Annabeth sighed and recollected herself. “Anyway, the reason I’m here is that it’s time for you to get up. The polls are closing, the race is exceedingly close, the staff and the media need to see their future Vice President working the room, and honestly someone needs to help stop Joshua from having a nervous breakdown.”

Leo gave her a pointed glare. “Don’t say that, would ya. We need to be practicing cautious optimism here and Josh is fine. This is his job-”

“To blow a gasket over exit polls?”

“No.” He walked over and got the clothes that were hung up. He placed the suit and pants on the bed and started to put the shirt on, Annabeth beginning to button up his cuffs and smoothing out any wrinkles.

As he put his pants on and then his shoes, he started to speak again. “It’s his job to worry and to wonder what things could be going on around the country that could affect his guy. He has to look at the whole table. Besides, even if this wasn’t his job, he’d be doing it anyway. Josh needs to have something to worry about or else he goes insane.”

“I think he’s going insane regardless.”

Leo laughed and walked to the mirror, beginning to do his hair. “Yup, that’s Josh for you.”

He finished up and walked back over to Annabeth who was holding out his jacket for him so he could slip it on. He slid the jacket on and walked over to the mirror again, checking himself one last time. He saw Annabeth walk behind him and smiled.

“How do I look?”

Annabeth smiled and got out an imaginary crease that was on his suit, then looked up at him. “Like the next Vice President of the United States.”

Leo blushed. “Ah, stop it.”

“Really. You do.”

He blushed harder and grabbed his notes off his nightstand, placing them in his pocket, then extended his arm. “Shall we?”

She smiled. “We shall.”

 

* * *

 

While the race had been close going into the campaign headquarters, as soon as Leo stepped in front of the cameras after Foo Fighters had played their last song, things began looking up. It was almost as if he had been the thing that the Santos campaign had needed.

After his required air time, he slipped into the war room and saw that it was in a frenzy. The exit polls that had been opposite of the actual voter turnout had ceased coming out and were finally showing positive results. They were showing results that were making Louise Thornton, one of the scariest woman he knew, dance as she shaded in the states that were going their way.

He smiled as he walked up to her, “Well, Louise, are things going well?”

Lou stopped her dancing for a moment. “Doing well? Leo, I can honestly say at this point that we might not have to practice cautious optimism at this point. Maybe Josh needs to yell at the polls some more. Hell, that’s what seemed to start this upswing.”

Leo laughed and then looked around. “Hey, where is Josh anyway?”

Lou, who had turned back to the multiple television sets that had been set up, shrugged offhandedly. “Hell, if I know. He was close to blowing a gasket so I sent him up to his room to cool off for a minute. He called back 15 minutes ago that he was going to clean up for when Santos got here.”

Leo frowned, even when Josh was at his most unbearable, he never took too long when it came to dressing. And tonight being tonight, he knew that Josh wouldn’t want to stay away from the action too long. Maybe, he should go check-

“Leo! MSNBC wants a phone interview with you. Josh might want you somewhere else, but he’s not picking up, so I ran it by me, myself, and I and I say you go do it.”

He was snapped out of his reverie by Lou who had began to talk to him personally again.

“Huh? What was that, Lou?”

“You. MSNBC phone interview. Now. Is everything good?”

Leo rolled his eyes; Lou was back to her regular self. “Yes that’s fine. I’ll be over there in the next room. When Josh comes back, tell him to breathe.”

He walked over to the next room where Donna was setting up the phone call and telling him the talking points that were good to go over during the interview.

Leo watched as Donna did her thing and he was in awe. He watched how this shy girl that he was first introduced to on the first Bartlet for America campaign was arguing with reporters, policy advisors, and news anchors and outwitting everyone.

Donna saw him staring at her and cocked her head in confusion. “What?”

He shook his head, “Nothing. Just thinking.”

She rolled her eyes, “You’re just as bad as Josh. Anyway, they’ll be on the line in five. How are you feeling?”

“Like, I want to fake a heart attack to get out of this interview”

Neither Annabeth or Donna dignified that with a verbal response, deciding to whack him on a respective shoulder.

“Ow! What the hell is wrong with you women tonight? I do believe this is elder abuse. Besides, I am the Vice-President nominee, if Josh caught you doing that, you both would be skinned alive.”

“Well Josh isn’t here. He’s focused on polling info and the electoral map. Besides, he wouldn’t do anything to me right now.”

Leo raised his eyebrow at Donna’s sassy rebuttal and crossed his arms, giving a smug smile. “Why Donnatella? What do you know that I don’t know.”

Donna blushed and went back to her phone, immediately putting it on speaker phone and pointing at Leo to start listening and responding.

* * *

 

“Thank you, Matt. We look forward to watching the results roll in as well.” Donna hung up and then smiled at Leo. “That was great, Leo.”

Leo stood up, “If anyone’s great, kid, it’s you. Your a natural at this.”

Donna beamed. “Thank you, Leo. That means a lot.”

He smiled and stood up, “Should we go check in and see how we are doing? See if Josh has had his second nervous breakdown of the night?”

Donna nodded and as they walked back to the war room, they saw more blue on the map and the energy in the room was currently on fire. “Lou!” Donna called out, “how’s it going?”

Lou smiled and turned. “We’re getting really good exits. I need you to go down to campaign headquarters and start introducing more people. I want that headquarters fired up. Tell Foo Fighters to start singing other people's’ songs if they have to.”

Leo laughed, “Where’s Josh? Speaking to the Congressman?”

Lou shrugged. “No clue. He hasn’t checked in. I’m going to send Ronna in a minute. He’s driving me insane, though. First, he’s in this room non-stop and now he’s gone awol. We only have about an hour and a half before the West Coast polls close. Less than half an hour before the polls close in the Mountain states.”

Leo laughed harder, “That’s Josh for you. Don’t send Ronna. I’ll go do it. Get his ass in gear.”

Lou nodded, her head turning back to the exits and he started to walk towards the elevators. Annabeth was following him and he turned around, “Hey. Whatcha doing following me around for?”

Annabeth looked at him like he was stupid, “Josh told me to keep an eye on you. Since you sandbagged yourself up to the VP debate, he wants me to make sure no Annabeth imposter’s are giving anything away. But besides that, I like hanging out with you.  I can feel like that, can’t I?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

They stepped in the elevator and began heading up to Josh’s floor.

When they got out, he walked towards the door and he turned back to look at Annabeth. “You can stay out here. He’s probably gonna be a little frazzled. I’ve dealt with it and know how to get him to calm down.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes once more. “Leo, I wasn’t introduced to Joshua yesterday.”

Leo shook his head, “I swear, your eyes are gonna get stuck like that.”

“I’ll live.”

Leo knocked on the door. There was no response.

He knocked again. No response again.

He tried the door and luckily it opened. He walked in and as he did, he chuckled. It was a classic Joshua Lyman room from the onset. Piles of work everywhere and to-go cartons of food. “Josh! The polls are looking better! You don’t have to be making calls right now or whatever the hell you have been doing for the past hour and a half.”

There was no response and it was then he saw the light underneath the bathroom door. He calmed a bit, but then noticed that the bathroom door was ajar. He walked towards the bathroom and frowned, “Josh? Everything okay in there?”

He grew worried. This wasn’t like Josh. Even when he was in one of his funks, he was still talkative. He walked even closer to the door, “Josh,” he whispered.

He pushed the bathroom door open and his eyes widened in fear and panic, “JOSH!”

On the bathroom floor lay a face-down, unmoving Josh Lyman.

He got on the ground and turned Josh over, it was clear that he’d been like this for a bit. His lips were turning blue and it was at that moment that he realized that Josh wasn’t breathing.

“Josh! Kid, you gotta wake up! Josh!”

He began to panic as he forgot the steps to CPR and tears began to come to his eyes, “HELP! I need-I need Help!”

* * *

 

The next 30 minutes were a blur for Leo McGarry.

The Secret Service had run in at his calls and had immediately started doing CPR, while Annabeth called 911. Meanwhile he just sat on Josh’s bed useless, in shock. He didn’t even realize that one of his agents had run down the hall to grab the Emergency Defibrillator until they shouted, “We got a pulse!”

The paramedics arrived a little bit after that and they loaded Josh into the ambulance. That’s where he spent the entire ride over, holding Josh’s clammy hand and begging to God that this wasn’t going to be the last time he spent time with him. In his other, he had clutched Annabeth’s hand who had refused to be left behind, saying something about how Josh wouldn’t want him to be alone. He didn’t say what he had been thinking: That Josh had been all alone and no one had been looking for him. How Josh had always tried to look out for him and how he rarely did.

“How long until we get to the damn hospital?” He had roared.

“We’re almost there, Mr. McGarry.”

Leo had nodded and tried to breath, “Okay. We’re almost there, kid.”

“Mr. McGarry, what is his medical history?”

“Umm. H-He got shot. Si-Six years ago. It got his pu-pulmonary artery and collapsed his lung.”

“Is he on any medication?”

“I-I don’t know. He was, but I don't know anymore”

As if God had heard his prayer, the ambulance stopped and he watched as the paramedics quickly opened the back of the ambulance and raced Josh down the hospital hallway. He tried his best to keep up and he was rewarded by Josh coming back to consciousness

“Leooooo,”he slurred.

“I’m here, kid. It’s going to be okay kid.”

“El-Election?”

Leo had nearly burst out in tears. “Don’t worry about it, kid. Don’t worry about it.”

He had tried to go further, but he was then stopped by a nurse. “I’m sorry, sir, you can’t go back there.”

“You don’t understand, I need to get back there. He hates to be alone. That’s-That’s my son. He is my son.”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

The nurse ran behind the doors that Josh had just been taken behind and Leo just stood there. Annabeth grabbed his arm and led him to the private waiting room that the Secret Service had set up.

“I-I need to call Donna, Congressman Santos, and um...the President, and dear God, Rebecca. I need to get them on the phone.”

“I’ll take care of it right now. Who do you want me to call first?”

“I’ll do the first call.”

“Leo, are you-”

“I’ll make the first call.”

Annabeth watched as he stood up and hit the speed dial on his phone.

“Hey Margaret. Yeah, I’m doing fine. Listen, I need you to get C.J. on the phone please. It’s urgent....”

She watched as he waited for C.J. to get on the phone and how when looked up slightly, there was a tv in the room. A tv with CNN on showing that, even though it was a tight race, Santos was at 208 electoral votes and that Texas was on the verge of being called.

“Hey, C.J., yes I’m fine. Listen, C.J., I’m at the hospital. No, no, I’m fine. It’s not me. It’s not me. C.J. Its Josh.”

She continued to watch him make the proceeding calls to Rebecca Lyman; his daughter, Mallory; and when she saw that he was about to do the last one, she tried to grab the phone.

“Leo, you shouldn’t do this one. I’ll call. Josh needs you to be strong.”

He raised the phone above his head and stood up, moving away from her.

“Donna. Hey, it’s me. Leo. Donna, Donna, I need you to sit down. It’s...Donna, I’m at the hospital. No, no, no, calm down.”

Annabeth watched as Leo sat in the hospital chair and tried to remain put together, yet at the corner of her eye, she saw the CNN graphic change and she knew they were about to break some news.

“Donna. You need to come down here as soon as you can.”

_“And we are now able to say with almost certainty the results of the state of Texas…._

“You can’t go and grab Josh, Donna, listen to me. It’s not me who is sick, Donna, it’s Josh.”

_We are calling the state of Texas, with it’s 34 electoral votes, for Congressman Matt Santos.”_

The door to the waiting room opened

“For Joshua Lyman”

* * *

  
Leo McGarry walked into the pre-op room. The doctor said that they were going to try and do the same surgery that they had done on him last year. That they hoped it wasn’t too late. That there was a high chance that he wouldn’t survive this. That he had not been taking the pills that he had been given post-Rosslyn, which made this cardiac event so much more extreme.

He looked down on Josh, who wasn’t lucid. He choked back his tears at the pale and clammy man who was oblivious to world.

“H-Hey kid. You’re gonna be alright. You have to. You have to be alright kid. You got me here, kid. You got me here. You believed in me, you can’t bail on me now.”

“Time is up, Mr. McGarry.”

Leo quickly kissed Josh on the head, stroking his hair. As he was escorted out, he looked at his watch. 9:30. 30 minutes before California polls closed. He hoped to God that Josh would get to see him and Congressman Santos getting nominated.

He was walking back to the waiting room when he saw Donna, Ronna, and Bram run down the hall. Donna’s eyes were red and her face was flushed.

“Where’s Josh? Where is he?”

“Sit down, Donna. Come sit down.” Leo led her to the waiting room.

“They’re operating on him right now. It’s going to be okay.” He didn’t look at her when he said this and he knew she noticed it, when she began to shake her head furiously and clench her eyes shut trying to stop the tears.

They sat there for the next 30 minutes dead silent, with the exception of the sniffling coming from Donna and Ronna, waiting for the first of what would hopefully be many updates. Leo had demanded that of the surgical team, since it was the only thing that he could actually control. They didn’t bother to look at the tv not caring when it turned 10:00, signifying the closure of the West Coast polls.

Suddenly, Annabeth shot up. It was 10:15. They were calling Oregon, Washington, and California on CNN. It was also five minutes after they promised Leo to be out with the first update.

“They’re calling the West Coast”

“God damnit, Annabeth. I don’t care about the West Coast, right now.”

“Leo,” Donna said quietly, “don’t yell at her. Josh would kill us if he saw us paying attention to anything other than the polls. She’s just trying to keep our mind off of it.”

Ronna gave a soft chuckle, “He would. He would say, ‘It’s not like I’m running for anything. Focus on the elections’”

Leo dropped his head in shame. “I’m sorry, Annabeth.”

“It’s okay, Leo.”

_“And we are now ready to call Washington, Oregon, and California. With 11 electoral votes, we’d like to call the state of Washington for Congressman Santos…_

“Joshua Lyman.”

They all stood up.

_With 7 electoral votes, we’d like to call the state of Oregon for Congressman Santos..._

“My name is Dr. Fuller. 5 minutes ago, we were beginning to operate when Mr. Lyman’s vitals began to drop. We tried to stabilize him, however he went into cardiac arrest and began to code…”

_We'd like to remind our viewers at home that in order to become president, a candidate must have 270 electoral votes and so it is now at this time, that we’d like to announce that with 55 electoral votes, from the state of California, that..._

“Unfortunately, we were unable to resuscitate him. I’m sorry but unfortunately, at 10:15pm, Joshua Lyman passed away. I’ll leave you alone and a counselor will be in momentarily.”

_We are calling the election for Congressman Matthew Santos from the state of Texas. We now have a new President and Vice President in the United States._

First there was silence, and then, there were two anguished cries.


End file.
